Naruto  Nanashi?
by Eternaly Serene
Summary: Naruto was given a mission by Sandaime. But Sandaime died and Naruto is the only one left knowing. However he leaves for the mission thus becoming a missing nin. 5 years later he returns for the jonin-exams as a ninja from dokugakure.What's his intentions
1. Ch1 Mission

**Naruto - Narashi? Ch 1**

I do not own Naruto… sadly T-T

Summary: Naruto turned ANBU at age 10, but only Sandaime knew. This was kept hidden. Naruto was given a 'mission' by Sandaime right before he entered the chunin exams with his teem. The mission was to take place when he turned 15 but Sandaime died and Naruto is the only one left knowing. However he leaves the village at 13 to do the mission, thus becoming a missing nin. 5 years later he returns for the jonin-exams disguised as a ninja from this so called 'new' village, the Poison village/Dokugakure (more info in fic). Now he has to face his old friends and try to stay under the radar before he could clear his name of 'missing nin' and justify his doings.

**Warning: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children.

"blah" = speaking

'blah'= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback 

Naruto was standing in the Hokage office, he had just returned from his first mission as hunter ANBU, not as good as an actual ANBU but it was still a huge accomplishment for a 10 year old.

Sarutobi had though long on this and decided he'd have Naruto in on the decision. "Naruto, I'll give you a choice, ether you go public with your abilities or you keep working undercover at the academy like you have been so far, slowly becoming 'genin' and getting your own teem" Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, said to Naruto. He saw Naruto as a second grandson because they where so much together after Naruto's seal was damaged on a mission. He had been trying to find ways to strengthen it, but to no avail. Thus he wanted Naruto to be undercover to not attract to many enemies and most of all, have a childhood, because he knew that his life would be complicated later on.

Naruto remained silent while he thought but then spoke up "I'd like for it to stay as it is, even though I don't have any friends at the academy, that'll change when I graduate the academy at the age of 12 like I'm supposed to" Naruto answered after he had thought about it for some time. He really didn't like much attention and the Hokage announcing him a high level chunin could give much unwanted attention. He specialized in stealing and gathering information on target's, he didn't really like killing. So his specialty was stealth and defiantly speed, like his father. Yes he knew who his father was, yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato.

Sandaime smiled at the answer but was sad at the thought of Naruto's loneliness. "Well it is best that way" he answered and they talked for some time.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

A few years later,

It had been two weeks since Neji, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba and Naruto had returned from their mission to retrieve Sasuke which had been a success.

Not all was well though, Neji and Chouji were in critical condition and Kiba wasn't going to leave the bed for at least a month. Shikamaru wasn't very badly hurt and he was on back active duty within a week. Naruto, even though his injuries were by far the worst of the group with the exception of maybe Neji, recovered and was released from the hospital a week later.

Sasuke had recovered surprisingly fast and was now on a recovery program that consisted mostly of training, with the exception of several hours of psychiatric therapy, and of course he was under ANBU surveillance 24/7 as ordered by the Hokage.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Naruto's house

Naruto was lying on his bed thinking. The mission had been a success and the village seemed proud of him. It was a nice thought, but it only brought sadness because it only made what he had to do so much harder.

_Flashback_

_It was two days before the chunin exams and Naruto had been called to the Hokage's office. "Ahh, Naruto there you are" Sandaime said as Naruto came inn through the window. "Hi there Hokage-jiji" Naruto said with a smile. Naruto was hyperactive but not as much as people thought, he could be calm and had extremely good patience, after all he was ANBU, well a lower version of ANBU (hunter) but still. _

"_I have gathered some information regarding your seal, it seams that you only need to get stronger to be able to withstand the Kyuubi and it seams that the seal was designed to merge you with Kyuubi after a specific time limit. Thus I will ask you to do a long term mission outside the village to train and gather information regarding this mater, when you turn 15 of course" Sarutobi said. He didn't want Naruto to leave too early, but he knew Naruto couldn't do this inside the village ether. _

"_Really, well it's a long time from now, but if it'll help me progress then I guess it would be a smart move" Naruto said in deep thought. He'd gotten some friends after some time and the thought of leaving them didn't appeal very much to him. But he knew he was a liability with the seal week, so it would be the smartest move to leave._

"_Yes, although only I'll have this information so when the time comes I'll announce that you have gone on a solo mission. I will not write this down anywhere except in these two scroll's and it'll be coded. you will have one and I'll have one, it will not be related to any Hokage matters and will probably go unnoticed by the council and other ANBU". Sandaime said, he knew that this was important, he didn't want people to know that the seal was damaged, that could damage Naruto as well. People would, no doubt, start to doubt and look down upon him again. He didn't want that._

_Naruto was glad and dismissed himself to prepare for the exam, not that he needed to but still._

_End Flashback_

Now Sandaime was dead and only he knew of this, what should he do. Now that Kyuubi had already woken up, he had to leave on this mission given to him by Sandaime. **"Kit, why don't you just leave? no one's holding you back"** Kyuubi pointed out, Naruto almost jumped out of his skin. "Damn it, don't scare me like that!… I'm still not used to that" Naruto exclaimed **"Hehe Sorry kit, but it's true" **he loved doing that to Naruto, hey with being locked in a small cage he had to do something to keep himself amused. **"And you don't have to talk for me to hear you, plus if people where around they would think you where crazy"** now he actually laughed, ohh~ he liked this.

'Damn, why didn't you say that earlier, you, you… furball' he couldn't come up with a better argument or nickname for that matter. Well he really wasn't a jerk or and idiot, but he defiantly where one hell of a furball. **"Hey I resent that" **was Kyuubi's answer. Now it was Naruto's turn to laugh.

After some time Naruto decided that he had to leave. 'But leaving will make me a missing nin, and it's much harder getting out of the village than getting inn' Naruto thought **"Well kit, you have to try don't you?" **'Yea, I guess, but what'll I say if I gat caught?' **"Well that's easy… just don't get caught"** Kyuubi said with a grin. 'Arrrg…' was Naruto's answer including incoherent mumblings.

A little wile later Naruto had packed and was ready to leave, he only packed light because he didn't really need much. He had his ANBU cloths, that consisted of a black tank top with a mask he used to cover half of his face, (Like Kakashi) black shinobi pants and a black cloak, that ended at his ankles, with a hoodie at the back and two pouches strapped to his belt. Black fingerless gloves, that went up a little longer than his wrists, and bandages around his ankles. And he brought his kunai and knifes, yes he threw knifes, that's why he was lousy with kunai, they weighed more and had a different technique for being thrown. He didn't pack any food, he could always hunt, and he had quite a lot of money, being a hunter nin paid off, but since the new Hokage, Tsunade, had come he hadn't had any of those because well, she didn't know he was hunter and since it wasn't officially written anywhere, how could he prove it.

He debated whether he should keep the necklace, that he had won in the bet with Tsunade, but decided against it and threw it at the bed with a single note with three words _'I'm sorry, goodbye' _written on it.

Having spent all his life in Konoha, Naruto knew many ways to get out of the village in secret. However, luck wasn't on Naruto's side today. Just as he was about to jump over the northern wall, a chuunin guard grabbed him by the shoulder and demanded to know what he was doing.

Naruto's emotions ranged from shock, at being caught, to very pissed that he hadn't been able to slip out unnoticed. Before the chuunin guard could identify him and raise his defenses, Naruto smashed his fist into the guard's stomach knocking him out and proceeded to quickly leave. However, he had forgotten that the guards always patrolled in pairs, thus he didn't notice when the other chuunin disappeared in order to report to the Hokage.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Tsunade was looking out of the window when suddenly a chunin came in frantic. "Shut up and calm down! I can't understand a word you are saying," yelled Tsunade, who was angry at the rude entrance.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, its just that I just saw a ninja running away from the village," said the frightened chuunin.

This caught the Hokage's attention. "Who's the ninja?" she asked in a serious tone, afraid that Sasuke was attempting to leave again. "I don't know, he wore a hood and facemask, but he's definitely a genin judging from his height" announced the guard.

"Damn it" screamed the Godaime now she was sure it was Sasuke. 'But why would he attempt to leave again' she thought. "Send out an ANBU squad to bring him back right away! ALIVE, mind you, and send a message to all of the rookie 9, Team Gai and their teacher's, I want them all in my office immediately!" ordered Tsunade. "Yes, Hokage-sama." "And get Jiraiya here as well." Tsunade thought of the possibility of Naruto leaving but quickly brushed it of. 'Surly he wouldn't do that' she thought "It will be done Hokage-sama" said the chuunin as he left.

'I hope this doesn't turn into something serious' thought Tsunade, 'I hope this person, whoever it is, doesn't do anything stupid, like try to fight the ANBU.'

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~


	2. Ch2 ANBU

**Naruto - Narashi? Ch 2. ANBU**

I do not own Naruto… sadly -.-

**Summary: **Naruto turned ANBU at age 10, but only Sandaime knew. This was kept hidden. Naruto was given a 'mission' by Sandaime right before he entered the chunin exams with his teem. The mission was to take place when he turned 15 but Sandaime died and Naruto is the only one left knowing. However he leaves the village at 13 to do the mission, thus becoming a missing nin. 5 years later he returns for the jonin-exams disguised as a ninja from this so called 'new' village, the poison village (more info in fic). Now he has to face his old friends and try to stay under the radar before he could clear his name of 'missing nin' and justify his doings.

**Warning: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children.

"blah" = speaking

'blah'= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback l

As soon as Naruto was outside of the village the Kyuubi pointed out that someone would definitely notice that the guard had been knocked out.

'Well what the hell was I supposed to do?' countered Naruto angrily, he was panicking then damn it. **''Damn it kit, I'm not saying you did anything wrong''** replied the Kyuubi with a snarl, **"I'm just trying to say that your Hokage might already know you're gone". **

'Yea, probably…' **"Well kit, you should quicken your pace before some…" **But before the Kyuubi could finish his sentence Naruto smelled something. The weird thing was that Naruto's mind registered it as four people with medium to high amounts of chakra. 'What the hell is going on here, how do I know that?' wondered Naruto. **"Probably my chakra enchanting your senses, ehhe… should have told you, when I woke up I channeled my chakra to your system. Those people that you smell are most likely an ANBU team, looks like our escape wasn't perfect, like I suspected" **

'SHIT! You couldn't have said that before, Damn I'm gonna have to take on four jounins!' yelled Naruto. Before the Kyuubi could answer, the ANBU had already caught up and surrounded Naruto.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Meanwhile in the Hokage's office

"Ahh… there you are" Tsunade said as the last persons walked inn. She knew that Choji and Neji still where in the hospital making a recovery and that Lee was there as well so she didn't expect them to be there. She counted the ones there, Gai, Kakashi, Azuma and Kurenai, Tenten, kiba, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, Skaura… where's Naruto and Sasuke.

"Kakashi where's Sasuke?" Tsunade asked very frustrated, he couldn't have left again he was under ANBU surveillance. "He's in recovery and couldn't come Hokage-sama, but what is this about?" Kakashi asked. 'Damn that means Naruto's the one who left' she thought "Can everyone step out except Kakashi, Gai, Azuma and Kurenai" the Hokage ordered. The other's stepped out in the hallway wondering what was going on.

Then Jiraya came in through the window. "You called Hokage-sama" he said and went over to the others. "Yes, just half an hour ago a genin was spotted leaving the village over the north wall, I asked you all here to find out who" Tsunade said as shock entered their features.

"What again! Who? we know Sasuke couldn't have" Kurenai said.

"You don't mean…." Kakashi and Jiraya said at the same time. "Yes that's exactly what I mean, Uzumaki Naruto just left the village" if they thought they where shocked before they where even more shocked now.

"But why would he leave, nothing seamed wrong, it's just not possible" Jiraya said

"I know… I sent out an ANBU squad about half an hour ago but Kakashi, Jiraiya you go immediately now as well, I want him back here ALIVE!, Dismissed" Tsunade said and took out a sake bottle from her drawer once they where out of sight.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Back to Naruto

"You there," said an ANBU in a bird mask as he approached Naruto. "We have orders from the Hokage to bring you back. Please come with us peacefully, we don't want to kill you, unless it's absolutely necessary."

'Hmm, they are all releasing substantial killer intent, but there are also traces of superiority. How the hell do I know all this?' wondered Naruto as he processed the information. 'o yea… those improved senses the fox was talking about, but I don't have time for that now.'

Then suddenly Naruto's eyes and voice turned frighteningly cold. "Well sorry, I'm not going back and you can't force me, bird-san."

'Kyuubi, I'm gonna need your help with this.'

"**Obviously,"** said the fox in a taunting voice, and Naruto scowled.** "Alright, here's what we'll do, I'll give you some chakra to fight with"** Kyuubi compromised knowing how Naruto couldn't lose this fight, his life was at stake.

The ANBU shook a little as they felt Kyuubi's chakra being released.

'_So this is Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi container, why would he leave… is he actually going to fight?'_ thought one of the ANBU with a cat mask.

'_This could be difficult if he's using the demon's charka,' _thought another with an rabbit mask.

Some thoughts along the same lines went through the last one with a turtle mask.

"Scared already?" asked Naruto.

"Huh? What did you say brat?" the bird masked ANBU scoffed. "Take him down" he ordered.

"You'll never take me alive" Naruto shouted with barred teeth.

All four ANBU disappeared from Naruto's line of vision. 'I might have underestimated them,' frowned Naruto. 'No matter, they have no chance against me and the fox together'.

'**Stop calling me 'fox', you damn brat!**' said the Kyuubi.

"Try this" said the cat masked ANBU while throwing several kunai at Naruto. Within a blink of an eye Naruto disappeared from his spot and the kunai hit nothing but the ground where Naruto had been standing.

"Where is he?" said the turtle masked ANBU. "Nobody can disappeared like that. It's inhuman."

"Up there" shouted the one with the cat mask as he pointed towards the moon. "Nice try!" said the turtle masked ANBU. It took less then a second before the next wave of kunai, this time with explosive tags, flew toward Naruto.

Naruto countered with knives of his own and threw a shuriken and whispered "Kage Shuriken no jutsu". The ANBU could not see anything because of the smoke from the expiation caused by the explosive tags. Suddenly out of the smoke came hundred's of shuriken startling the ANBU. Three where hit and fell unconscious in a pool of blood. The fourth had two shuriken in his left arm.

"Damn, you're not a genin are you" it was more of a statement than a question. "Does it seem like it" was all Naruto said as he appeared behind the ANBU and hit a pressure point in his back, hard enough to knock him unconscious for at least a day.

Naruto was panting hard 'Damn that took a lot, damn fox your chakra drains me' Naruto thought. **"Well sorry think of that next time you need my help" **Kyuubi scoffed. 'Well I better get out of here' Naruto said mentally. **"Wait kit, if you just go like this then they'll be able to follow your track because of the blood" **'Hmm.. Guess you're right, maybe I could… yea, that'll work, it'll at least by me some time.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Kakashi and Jiraiya were running through the forest looking for Naruto, following the path the ANBU had used.

'I hope we can get to him before something bad happens' thought Kakashi.

'Damn it Naruto! This is not the time to be running off, with the village in its current state we need every single shinobi we have. I'll have to have a serious talk with you later' thought the sanin angrily.

Suddenly Kakashi and Jiraiya felt an uncomfortable chill go down their spines. "I have a very bad feeling" muttered Jiraiya.

About a minute later, both smelled blood. "This can't be good," said Kakashi and increased his pace. Jiraiya's face grew even more serious "The ANBU tracks seem to be going in the direction of where this smell comes from. "Maybe they followed it too" Kakashi tried to lighten the situation, but it didn't work. They traveled a little deeper into the forest and the smell of blood became thicker. Both men exchanged worried looks.

After a few more minutes of running they made it to where Naruto had fought against the ANBU. They saw the unconscious ANBU and the blood, but no Naruto.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

_**A/N: **__Sorry, I'm not very good at fighting scenes, it'll be better I promise. And for people that didn't understand some of my 'thoughts' in this fic: The Kyuubi has been dormant for several years and has now woken up, he wasn't supposed to until Naruto turned 15 (when this mission was supposed to go down) , and that's why he needs to go on this mission now instead._


	3. Ch3 Search

**Ch 3: Search**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… sadly T-T

**Warning: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children, blood and some violence.

**Gohan90**: Thanks again for telling me ^^, I changed it, and my sister's not fond of you, sorry… it's still somewhat the same, but it was the best I could come up with so fast, so I let myself inspire. Thank you for reviewing, and for stating your opinion

"blah" = speaking

'_blah'_= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback l 

Jiraiya and Kakashi looked shocked over the scene with the ANBU. "How's this possible Naruto can barely fight Sasuke, how could he defeat 4 ANBU" Kakashi said bewildered. "He probably had some help from someone furry" Jiraiya said as he felt the demonic chakra residues hanging in the air. Both became more worried by this, had something happened to the seal to make him leave the village? is he OK?. These and questions alike where going through their minds as they rapidly searched the place for clues.

The toad sannin looked closer at the mess before them, '_I really wonder what happened here.'_ he thought. "The 'good' news is this is all still fresh, less than half an hour has passed since this fight took place," said Kakashi. "Naruto is probably still relatively close to the village" both Leaf-nin silently prayed for that to be true, while they continued their search.

"The two of us can't possibly handle all this territory," sighed the sannin pointing in all the directions Naruto could have gone. "Kakashi, report back to Tsunade about this and tell her to gather up some man-power to search for him," he ordered while pointing towards the way they had come. "I'll stay here and try to track him. If I find anything I'll draw arrows on the trees so that you can follow" Kakashi nodded and was gone instantly.

'_Tracking him is going to be rather difficult since the smell of blood is covering most every other smell in the area, so Kakashi's dogs is going to be almost useless' _looking around Jiraiya noticed that there were several footprints in the bloodied grass. They were all small, '_A child's foot,'_ mused Jiraiya. '_Well, it's good that he's still alone.' _he thought because if he was to meet someone, that would compromise everything, he would have had someone to help him with this and he would be a traitor to the village. Jiraiya hoped that this was not the case as he studied the footprints.

The toad sanin then started looking for clues as to where Naruto could have gone. He looked around the outside of the clearing and noticed that no footprints led in or out. Thus the sannin reasoned that Naruto must have been traveling through the trees. Jiraiya instantly jumped up into the surrounding trees and after only a few minutes of search saw a bloody footprint on one of the branches. '_All right, now I can follow him,_' he mused. '_With any luck I'll have him back in the village before sunrise'_ smirked Jiraiya as he jumped forward following the footprints as he drew arrows on the trees he passed with a piece of chalk.

The trail was rather easy to follow since it seemed Naruto had made no attempt to cover up after himself. After several minutes Jiraiya realized that the trail was a straight line and increased his speed. '_Good thing Naruto doesn't know how cover his tracks'_ however as soon as he thought that the tracks ended abruptly, there was no signs of them anymore.

"Huh… What the…" Jiraya decided to look several trees ahead thinking Naruto might have jumped further than that time. He still found nothing. "That's odd… very odd" the sanin then went back to the last footprint for a more thorough examination. "According to the depth of the outline, the fact that it's only one footprint and the smudge on the front of the foot, it looks as if he's still running, but then where the hell did he go?" wondered Jiraiya with a very confused look on his face he jumped down on the ground and searched there too, but still found nothing.

Something told him to backtrack a little in hopes of finding some clues about this bizarre thing. But when he had tracked them for a while he was back at were he began. '_Damn, it really was a dead end… It has to be something else here' _Jiraiya thought while looking and the footprints again. This time he saw through the trees again and found a new trail. This was also in a straight line at the beginning, '_So you thought you could fool me with two tracks eh' _and with this thought he followed the new track.

This track was different though as he tracked it he noticed that it was going in somewhat a zigzag line, it was first left, then right, then forward and left again, and it would then end up in a dead end just like the other one. '_Damn it, why are these tracks ending so abruptly?' _he questioned.

He backtracked again but soon found something that was abnormal, it was a track that was smudged so that it looked as if he fell there. _'Then why does the track keep going?' _another question. He looked down, but found nothing.

He went back to where he started and once again began looking for clues as to where he could have gone.

He came over a new track, _'Not again…_' He then though of something and began to run in circle in the trees around the spot where the clearing was and where the battle had taken place. And sure enough there where bloodied tracks all around it, high up, low against the ground, on the ground and even a tracks that had no specific direction and just ended somewhere, every single one of them probably ended in a dead end except for one.

That's when Jiraiya noticed what that kid had done, '_THAT DAMN KID!'_ screamed Jiraiya in his mind; he was already planning how to punish Naruto for making a fool out of him. He had made a hell of a lot of shadow clones and had made them all run in a different direction, each with a deferent pattern, while he escaped during this. Damn, it would take several hours checking them all, and they didn't have the time to do so, after that time who knew how far away from Konoha Naruto would be.

He returned to the clearing grumbling under his breath, that's when he heard a voice "Find anything to work with Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya turned around to find Kakashi crouching down looking at the footprints he had studied earlier. "You're back soon," said the sannin in a strained tone, he was still trying to figure out how he'd been fooled by a thirteen year old kid, Naruto non the less.

Kakashi just looked at him "Not really, its been over an hour" he stated. "AN HOUR!" yelled Jiraiya shocked, had he used an Hour on those tracks, damn. "Well yes, I reported to the Hokage. Told her about everything that we found here. Then showed her on a map of approximately where this all happened, so that she could make a strategy of where to send other shinobi… you know how she feels about him, she wouldn't just let him escape without a fight" explained the younger shinobi in a calm voice. "She is going to gather more forces to look for him at dawn. And I've sent out three of my dogs to track his scent, all though I doubt they'll find anything, seeing as the blood is so overwhelming that it covers the other smells in the area" Jiraiya nodded in understanding, but looked back down at the ground.

Kakashi spoke up again an somewhat a hopeful tone. "These are his tracks aren't they?" he asked while pointing down at the footprints. "Yes, there's a lot of them all over the place in every direction, but if you follow them, they all end up as a dead-end probably except for one, and it would take to much time tracking them all, to find out which one" said Jiraiya in obvious annoyance, damn he was never going to live this down, he needed a drink.

Kakashi looked at him like he was crazy or something "That's interesting, Naruto was never been any good in stealth or strategy. He prefers loud entrances, jumping in announcing his presence to whoever's there, friend or foe, if you know what I mean" Kakashi said in a surprised voice that changed into a slightly joyful hint. "Yeah, that's what worries me" replied a concerned Jiraiya. 'How come now, suddenly, he can come up such a tactic that he can deceive even me?'

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

With Naruto

Naruto had been running non stop for the last day and a half and was seriously tired, but he knew that he would be at the mountain country soon, and sine they didn't have a shinobi village for them self's, that they knew of at least, it would be safer for him there, than here in the woods. Although he had an arterial motive for doing this, he was on his way to where this mission was to take place: Dokugakure.

When he came to the clearing of the forest he quickly made a kage bunshin (Shadow clone) and henged himself and the clone. The clone became someone who looked like he was in his mid 30'is, had dirty blond hair and blue eyes, he wore normal farmer clothes. The real Naruto henged so that he wore similar clothes and masked his whisker marks. It would be bad if he was recognized going through this gate, after all he probably had a lot of Konoha shinobi looking for him now.

'They' walked towards the gate of Mountain country and as usual were stopped by the guards. There were three guards, two at the side of the gate with one on the inside something that looked like a both.

"Halt, what's your business here" asked one of the guard's, Naruto was glad that these guards were not shinobi, but some kind of police force, not that he couldn't have taken them on, no he just didn't want to rise suspicion and/or reveal himself. These guys being non shinobi lowered the risks of this happening. The clone Naruto simply said that they where visiting family while the real Naruto where exclaiming how good it would be seeing his cousin again. 'They' slipped past security pretty fast and without complications. Clone Naruto disappeared and Naruto thought that security should increase, it was way to easy to get through that gate. He ate a light meal and found a hotel to stay at for the night.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Meanwhile in Konoha

There where a knock on the door in to the Hokage's office. "Enter" came form inside and a chunin squad composed of three came inn.

One of the chunins stepped forward to give a report. "Hokage-sama we have finished the search of Uzumaki Naruto's Apartment, there seems to be no items in particular that is missing, although we found two things in particular that we think was meant for you". One of them stated. At this Tsunade's ears perked up. "What was it" she said stern, she was angry at everything and everyone, she knew she shouldn't be, but that's how she felt right now. The chunin laid a note on her desk and the first Hokage's necklace on top of it then stepped back to his position beside the two others.

Tsunade stilled and stared at the necklace, the image of both her little brother and her lover crossed her mind in a flash and she grabbed the necklace and note. She opened the note and it said _"I'm Sorry, Goodbye" _. Only three words… She hung her head and dismissed the chunin's. _'Why would he do that'_ she thought as tears made their way down her face. She opened her drawer with sake, this was going to be a long night.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

**A/N: **Hope this was a better chapter, and please tell me what you think, it will be appreciated, Both praise and critic.


	4. Ch4 New village, Dokugakure

**Ch 4: New village, Dokugakure**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto… sadly T-T

**Warning: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children.

**A/N: **ok I know jounin exams doesn't really exist, but since this is a fan fiction, and my fanfic too, it's gonna be one. Other than hope you like it and review if you can ^^

"blah" = speaking

'blah'= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback l 

It had been two week's since Naruto had left the village and he was finally at his destination. It was a village on the border of Mountain country which was actually a hidden village with shinobi.

Although it was pretty new, about a few years old, and they had not gone public with it yet. Their leader had been a good friend of Sarutobi and had promised that when the time came she would take Naruto inn when he would undergo his training and merge during his absence in the village when he turned 15. She had heard of his death and where very saddened, after all he had been a good friend, but she would still take Naruto inn if he came. Which he probably would, and sooner as well if her assumptions where correct.

There it was, the gate to 'Dokugakure (Poison village)', where, supposedly, he would stay for the next few years. When he approached the gate he was met with the happy face of his long time friend Atarumi Shuro. Shuro had long black hair that reached his shoulder blades, it was loose with two bangs at the side of his face. He had emerald eyes and where two years older than Naruto.

Shuro grinned and waved over at him while shouting "Hey Naruto, what brings you all the way over here?" Naruto looked up at Shuro, with somewhat a saddened expression and answered "Kyuubi". Yes Shuro knew about the Kyuubi and so did almost every other person in that village, although they really didn't care since they already had two other Jinchuuriki, Shuro being one of them.

That changed Shuro's expression into one of surprise and curiosity "Shit, He's woken up hasn't he, that was early, I thought it wasn't gonna happen till you where 15..." That's when Shuro realized something, he went over to Naruto, an expression of worry clear on his face, and began questioning him "Oi does that mean you left the village?, are you ok?, did you get out fi…" and he kept on like that until Naruto cut him off "Yes I left my village, I got out fine, after all I'm an expert in hiding my tracks remember, I defeated four ANBU and ran here as fast as I could, and I hate myself for it… I mean the only thing I left were my necklace and a note with three word, THREE words, how cruel am I" Naruto said almost sobbing with his head hung low, he clearly hadn't wanted to leave yet.

Shuro gripped Naruto's shoulders "Hey, Hey… you are so not ok, here I'll take you to Yumi" and with that Shuro lead the way to the village leader. Her name was Dekaru Yimida, but most people only called her Yumi or Yumi-sama. She was the second Jinchuuriki of the village and since she was the village leader you could understand their respect towards Jinchuuriki's.

When they got there Shuro just kicked the door inn dragging Naruto, who had protested, with him all the wile saying "Oi, Yumi-sama" Shuro said as he entered her office. "What is it" she said in a very annoyed tone with a mark on her forehead, not looking up from her paperwork. "Naruto's here" he said with a grin. That caused her to snap her head up stretching her neck to much and getting a serious painful feeling. "Itai, Damn… where" she said or rather growled. "Right here…" said a brooding Naruto, you couldn't see his eyes they where covered by his hair, his head was down and you could see the dark aura around him.

"Naruto?, is that you" she asked in disbelief, she'd never seen Naruto brood before, he was always so happy. "Hai…" he said, she looked at Shuro he nodded and smirked, she knew he wanted to laugh so badly at his friend's antics.

Yumi sighed and sat up in her chair "So I guess Kyuubi woke up early and you had to leave the village behind" she said still looking at Shuro, both nodded. She sighed again while opening her drawer "Well here's your key to you and Shuro's apartment, no you will not be living alone, wouldn't want anything to happen to my fellow Jinchuuriki's now would I" She said with a smile, she knew it might be a bad idea, but she didn't take the chance with Naruto looking like that right now, hopefully they wouldn't fight _too_ much.

Naruto looked up a little startled, he wasn't really used to such kindness, especially from someone he'd only met four or five times before. "Your training will begin tomorrow, meet at training ground 4 together with Shuro and he will introduce you to your and his sensei" She said and went back to her paperwork.

Naruto got curious at that, "You mean he and I have the same Sensei?" he asked looking at her "Well you'll have several but he'll be in charge of you yes. Since you already got some skill you begin with full training immediately" she said with a small almost evil grin, oh how he was gonna hate her for this, _'hehe this'll be fun' _she thought and dismissed them.

Later that day Naruto had settled inn at Shuro's place and they had gone out to eat. "So I see the village isn't quite done yet is it" Naruto said as he looked around at the constructing going on around them, buildings, houses, shops and alike were still being built, "Nah.. There is a lot more to do still, but we'll get through it, especially with your help" Shuro said with a smirk. "Heh.. You got it" Naruto answered back with a smirk of his own.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

The next day Naruto and Shuro where at training ground 4, it was a field of grass almost completely surrounded by a high mountain. And there where very few trees, something Naruto was not used to.

Shuro had just introduced Naruto to his sensei Kauro, Hitoka Kauro. "Ohh, So this is Naruto huh… nice to finally meet you, I've heard so much" he said ecstatic, with sparkles directing in every direction, yes he was always in a good mood, ALWAYS, if he wasn't the world would go under, or so Shuro had explained to Naruto before they got there.

Kauro knew what level Naruto was on, but he also knew that he needed to train his strength, since Naruto relied on speed, maybe teach him in a fighting style that suited him too, so he spoke up "Ok first I'll put weight seals on you and then you start with 200 rounds around the field, run up and down this mountain 50 times with the help of chakra, kick a log 200 times and take 200 pushups on each hand" he smiled evilly at Naruto's expression. Naruto looked at his, now newly made, sensei with a look of disbelief, didn't expect this because he'd never really had anyone tell him how too train, defiantly not this hard, but did as he was told nonetheless.

This went on for about 3 months before he was introduced to his three other Sensei's.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Meanwhile in Konoha

The Godaime Hokage, Tsunade, was sitting at her desk trying to make sense of all the scrolls and documents, called paperwork, that was on her desk. However her mind could only think back to the blond boy, the one that had been so precious to her, that she had lost three months ago.

The last three months had been the worst for Tsunade and the Leaf.

The morning after Naruto ran away Tsunade had sent other specialized tracking teams to try and find Naruto, but to no avail. Naruto could not be found anywhere. She then issued an order for search parties to be formed to look everywhere in Fire Country after him. She sent out most of the genin teams because she knew that even thought the genin weren't so good at tracking, they would want their friend and comrade back and would be more diligent that the older generation.

However the results were still negative and after a month the slug sanin was forced to give up the search and label Naruto not only as a Missing-nin, but also an S-Class criminal since he had defeated a team of ANBU and almost killed one of them.

Tsunade told all of her shinobi that whenever they were out on missions, to try and keep an eye out for Naruto. They all agreed, but she knew that most would forget this order after some time.

The Godaime Hokage when public with the news of Naruto's disappearance a week after it happened. Most people took it hard, they had gotten used to the loud kid over the years and missed him a little, while someone hardly cared, someone, especially the older generation, actually cheered too, but it was drowned by some shinobi leaking killer intent their way. However the younger generation was hit the hardest with this news, especially Team 7 and the team that brought Sasuke back.

Shikamaru and Kiba could not believe that Naruto had done this and he kept insisting that someone must have kidnapped him because the Naruto he knew would never leave Konoha. Shikamaru led several search parties but found absolutely nothing, it looked as if Naruto had just disappeared in thin air. Neji and Chouji were still in ICU when Tsunade had made the announcement. Chouji managed to recover a month after the mission and was absolutely shocked when Shikamaru told him the news about Naruto. Neji however was still in ICU but it was looking good, he was mostly conscious and would be released in a weeks time.

Sakura and Sasuke were absolutely shocked to hear about Naruto from Kakashi. They both desperately wanted to know the reason behind Naruto's disappearance, but since Kakashi was forbidden to tell them about the Kyuubi, they were told that the reason would only be revealed if Naruto was ever found again.

Sakura couldn't help feeling heartbroken; Naruto had done so much for her, and she couldn't even help him when something was wrong in his life, she didn't even know.

Sasuke just scoffed and mumbled something to the point of "Dobe, I won't go chasing after you" which promptly earned him a slap from Sakura, that action surprised Sasuke, Kakashi and even Sakura herself.

Out of all of Team 7, Sakura was probably the most effected, because she realized that the only things she had ever done for Naruto was ignore him, tell him off and/or yell at him. Now he gone and she couldn't apologize, she couldn't make up for everything she had done to him.

Sasuke may not have shown it in public, but did miss his friend-teammate-rival and would do his hardest on those search-and-rescue missions and blame himself went they came back empty handed. He had finally realized that that old saying _'you don't know what you've got until it's gone' _was right.He had a friend and now he had lost him. Then he thought about Sakura, she was annoying, but still she was a friend. She may not leave the village, but would she stop being his friend if he kept acting cold? He thought that maybe he should at least try to acknowledge her as a friend.

The rest of the rookie nine and Gai's team were absolutely shocked by Naruto's actions. Shino, as usual, did not say much except that if Naruto left willingly then he must have had a good reason. Lee, who was now chained to the hospital bed to keep him from escaping to go look for Naruto, said that Naruto was not the kind of person to leave his dream behind like that without VERY good reasons and very actively supported the theory that he must have been kidnapped by someone. However strongly hopping that it wasn't Orochimaru. By the time Chouji had recovered enough to be back on his team the search was called off and Chouji was forever left with the guilt of not being able to help his friend.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~


	5. Ch5 Training and Information

**Naruto - Nanashi? Ch 5**

I do not own Naruto… sadly T-T

**Warning: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children.

**A/N: **Some people have asked about parings, I haven't thought about it much, but I don't think I want any paring as of yet. As a story might be more interesting that way, it still shadows the plot of the story.

I know jounin exams don't really exist, but jounin trail exist, this is just an expansion on the trails held when it's not wartime.

**PS: **As of Shuro and Yumi being jinchuurikis, which one they hold will be revealed later but just to say this, I know that 8 of the biju in the canon is already sealed and have jinchuurikis, but in my story the jinchuurikis are other people so to say and Shuro and Yumi are two of them, after all this is fanfiction.

"blah" = speaking

'blah'= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback l 

A year had gone by and Naruto now had more than double his own weight in weight seals. He had started learning poison and potions from one of his new Sensei's, her name was Maya and she specialized in poisons, but she also taught Naruto how to transmit poisons without your opponent knowing, this could give him the moment of surprise and a huge advantage. It turned out that because of the Kyuubi, Naruto had a natural resistance to poison. This meant that poison would either not affect him at all or the effects would be weakened by a lot. This gave Naruto a serious upper hand, since he didn't have to worry about staying out of the way of his own poison, but it also gave a downsize because when he was first effected the poison had to be strong and would thus weaken him by a lot.

His third teacher was named Raiko. Raiko was a tall man, he had short silver hair that was as spiky as Naruto's and teal eyes. He wore a dark grey jacket, underneath was a light blue-silverish shirt. He wore dark blue shinobi pants and had full black gloves on his hands.

Raiko taught him lightning and wind jutsu's, Naruto seemed to have a natural affinity for wind so he got those easy, as for the other element he had some difficulty getting them down. After Raiko was done with him, Naruto could infuse almost all of his jutsus with wind and others with lightning to some extent.

His last sensei Hirako, who had brown hair and light blue eyes, wore a black cloak and a fishnet shirt under with black shinobi pants, taught him water some earth and a few fire jutsu's including jutsu's that didn't have a category, the ones that had to do with chakra like how to block an attack by shielding your body with moving chakra. Of course these jutsus needed good chakra control, which Naruto had some problem with because of his huge reserves, but he got them right and he could use them all in an instant. He also thought him how to completely mask his chakra so no one could tell he was even a ninja and how too 'see' everything around him by using his own chakra as a sonar.

His main sensei, Kauro, thought him about taijutsu and fuuinjutsu (Sealing techniques) witch he also seamed to have natural. He also thought him how to dispel any genjutsu and the basics of how to make one, he didn't go any further because Naruto had to much chakra to do the higher levels. He could maybe use some of them if he had used up most of his chakra but, that was unlikely, he rely did.

Kauro's taijutsu style consisted of all the styles he knew, which where hundred's, he thought some of them to Naruto and Shuro and they created their own style out of it.

Naruto made a style that where similar to a style thought to be forgotten, it consisted of raw speed while hitting pressure points at the same time and disabling your opponent limb from limb, after all how much of a challenge would an opponent be if ether an arm or leg were disabled. He rely counted on his strength as his speed was superior to it so he chose pressure points as they didn't need much force or brutality.

Shuro went for more of a special technique that where almost like a dance. He would dodge his opponents strikes and attacks while at the same time use them against the opponent instead, all while executing a tactical plan.

Since Kauro thought them several styles they could switch whenever they wanted if their style was ineffective against their opponent.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Four years had gone by pretty quick in Naruto's opinion. Last year the village had gone public with being a new hidden village and had chosen Yumi to be the Dokukage (Poison shadow), the leader of the village (I don't know if small villages have Kages or not, but anyway). This year they had made an alliance with both Konoha and thus Suna, and things where steady. They still had a pretty low reputation, what with being a new village and all, but that would change eventually.

Still no one in Konoha, or Suna for that matter, knew that Naruto were there in Dokugakure.

Next year was the time Naruto was supposed to return to Konoha, he missed the people back home sure, but he would miss the people from Doku as well. He could always visit, surely Tsunade would permit that he visit sometime... Or so he hoped. He was looking forward to going back to meat the others and see how they had all progressed.

He and Kyuubi had finally merged, it had been so painful that he had sometimes broken down and literally screamed so loud that almost the entire village had probably heard it. Over the years Kyuubi had thought him some chakra control exercises and uses so that be would be papered for having some of Kyuubi power and chakra. Naruto missed him though, he wasn't that bad. They couldn't talk mentally like before, but he could still visit him in his mind but he could not see him, it was like he was talking to a voice, but even so, it was claming hearing his voice sometimes.

_Flashback_

_Naruto is standing in front of Kyuubi's cage, watching in shock and confusion as the Kyuubi's chakra leaks out of the gates and all over the walls and floor._

_"Kyuubi, what the hell is going on?" yells Naruto. __**"Kid I don't have much time left" **__said the Kyuubi. "Huh? What do you mean? and why is all this chakra out here?" asked Naruto in confusion. "__**Well that is because our merging is coming towards an end."**_

_Naruto looked at him suddenly serious "An end? What will be the effects of this and what's going to happen to you?"_

_**"Your body will probably have some physical changes and perhaps psychological. I'm not sure exactly what will happen. As for me I'll be absorbed into you… and won't have to sit in this cage anymore" **__said the Kyuubi with a slight smirk._

_"Will I still be able to talk to you?" __**"Not likely kid" **__said the Kyuubi in a passive tone. The Kyuubi then sent some chakra out towards Naruto. It didn't return but where slowly absorbed into Naruto. __**"See kid, my chakra doesn't return back to me, but to you." **__the Kyuubi said. __**"I want to give you a somewhat goodbye present, here sign this in your blood and then put your fingerprints under" **__he said as he threw a huge scroll toward him. Naruto did as told and looked back at Kyuubi and said "This is some kind of summon right?" _

"_**Yes you can now summon any animal in the cat family like tigers, panthers, even foxes or, demon foxes, not normal ones, we come in different appearances, hehe good luck and use it well, oh.. And because you have merged with me only you will be able to communicate with them, like an Inuzuka and their dogs" **__after this the fox went back into darkness._

_End Flashback_

Naruto had been sick for a week with a high temperature, he was completely still when in bed and had occasional chakra flares.

When he finally woke up he found that he'd grown taller, his eyes had changed, they where now blue with a purple ring around the pupil and almost invisible purple strips came from his pupil to the edge if his iris, his whisker marks were thicker but had also faded to a more skin kind of color, but you could still se them, and he had two very sharp fangs, but you couldn't see them with his mouth closed.

Psychologically Naruto was mostly unchanged, though he became a little bit more possessive of things that were his and he would only need about five hours of sleep, occasionally six if he were really exhausted.

His chakra was seemingly unlimited. He never seemed to use up more than 60% of his chakra in a serious fight.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Naruto was sitting atop of the roof of his and Shuro's apartment building. He was looking up towards the stars and thinking over what he would do next year. When he returned to the village he couldn't just barge inn and expect to be reinstated, after all he was a 'missing nin'. He had to first convince Tsunade of his innocence and tell her about his mission and being a previous hunter. _How_ he had absolutely no idea, she was going to believe him nuts. Although he had Yumi as a witness and he had his hunter uniform. But still that was not enough evidence and he did not want to start a diplomatic war between Doku and Konoha by him staying there.

Shuro came up on the roof and saw Naruto sitting there "There you are, I was wondering if you were avoiding me, I haven't seen you all day" he said and sat down beside the blond.

Naruto looked at him and raised an eyebrow, resisting the urge to laugh. Shuro looked taken aback "Hey don't look at me like that, it's true" he said annoyed.

The blond gave inn and laughed at him before saying with a grin on his face "I haven't been avoiding you, although I really should you're annoying most of the tim.. ow" he was cut off by a fist to the head. "Hey I'm not annoying you're the one whose a pain in the ass!" he said but the blond one was still laughing.

"Oh relax, I've just been thinking that's all. I have been here for over four years, can you blame me for being nervous about next year" it was a rhetorical question, but Shuro didn't care.

"I guess not, I wouldn't know how it is being away from people important to me, and I don't know how it is having to be wary of those people because they would want to take you inn for being a missing nin. But I say that if you don't try you wont get very far, so why stop now". The blond just smiled.

'Shuro is right, I cant stop this mission, if you could call it that, not now that I've come so far. Look out Konoha because one Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is returning soon'.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

One year later

The jonin exam where 2 weeks away from now and Naruto had to leave. The exam were going to be held in Konoha, luckily for Naruto cause that would make thing easier. He hadn't gotten to know how many contestants each village would be sending but he did know which villages were attending.

Leaf - Sand - Rain - Mist - Waterfall - Stone - Cloud - Doku

He and Shuro where the ones going, they didn't want to send more just yet, even though they had an alliance with Konoha, since they were new, they were the 'weak' ones, or so the other's would think and thus they would be the easy target for the other contestants. So they only sent their best: Naruto and Shuro, the two jinchuuriki's, together with their sensei Kauro. Of course Naruto would be having a fake name, Nanashi, Na for the start of Naruto, another Na for the start of Namikaze and Shi for blood, so Naruto Namikaze blood. Thus Nanashi.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

They arrived a week and a half later at the gate of Konoha.

'Well here goes…' Naruto thought as he calmly walked toward the gates together with Shuro and Kauro. As soon as they got close enough, a guard motioned them to stop and asked for their papers.

"Nanashi, Kauro and Shuro from Doku, huh?" asked the guard "Attending the jounin exam?" "Yes, or well we are" answered Nanashi and pointed at Shuro "This is our sensei" he said and looked over at the smiling face of their sensei, he sweat dropped.

"I see…" said the guard "Well your papers are in order, so you are clear to pass. You'll find the hotel about half a mile down this street

'As easy as a walk in the park… they really need to get better security during exams' Naruto thought "Thank you" Kauro replied politely and walked away.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

More of Naruto's training will be revealed later in flashbacks. I know it's a bit short, but the chapters will be longer. So tell me what you think.


	6. Ch6 Arrival

**Naruto - Nanashi? Ch 6**

I do not own Naruto… sadly T-T

Summary: Naruto turned ANBU at age 10, but only Sandaime knew. This was kept hidden. Naruto was given a 'mission' by Sandaime right before he entered the chunin exams with his teem. The mission was to take place when he turned 15 but Sandaime died and Naruto is the only one left knowing. However he leaves the village at 13 to do the mission, thus becoming a missing nin. 5 years later he returns for the jonin-exams disguised as a ninja from this so called 'new' village, the poison village (more info in fic). Now he has to face his old friends and try to stay under the radar before he could clear his name of 'missing nin' and justify his doings.

**Warning: **Contains curses, word's that should not be used by children.

"blah" = speaking

'_blah'_= thinking

"**blah" **= Kyuubi speaking

"_blah" _= when reading or in a flashback l 

_'Back in Konoha… still can't get my head around it'_ Naruto thought as he and the others found and checked in to the hotel without a problem. They got two rooms. One of the reserved room's had two beds that Nanashi and Shuro was supposed to share, while Kauro got his own room. He dropped off his bag and sat down on the bed.

They had gone out again for a walk "This sure is one large village" Shuro said as they walked in the streets, "It sure is" Nanashi answered. As they walked they were noticed by many shinobi. They had heard of them, the Doku village, and Doku nin. Their headband had two drops on them, one large and one smaller beside it. They didn't think much of them though. Except the girls, they wondered whether or not they were taken.

Nanashi's hair was a bit longer and where red at the base, it reached his shoulders, and he had it in a ponytail, the end of said ponytail ended at the base of his neck and he had two short spiky bangs framing his face, kinda like the Yondamie. He had fingerless gloves that ended a little bit over the wrist. His headband where around his right bicep. He wore a black short sleeved shirt and navy cargo pants that was baggy at the upper part and slim near the legs. He also had three pouches on a black belt. One pouch on the right side and two on the left. One for medical stuff and sealing scrolls, after all he was good at fuuinjutsu, one for shuriken and kunai (he didn't really like kunai, but because of his ANBU days, when he was known for his throwing knives, he couldn't use them, wouldn't have anyone recognize him), and the last pouch was for his poisons. And of course his facemask so he wouldn't be recognized by any Konoha nin's because of his 'whiskers'.

Shuro had on a sleeveless gray top and dark blue cargo pants with bandages a the bottom like a standard shinobi. He had his kunai and shuriken in the pockets on the cargo pants and had his poisons in a pouch around his right tie. He still had the same hairstyle he always had, though his hair was longer. He had bandages around wrists too, instead of gloves. He also had his headband around his right bicep like Nanashi had.

Even though Nanashi was 18 and Shuro was 20, Nanashi was still taller and looked older than Shuro, but that was because of Kyuubi and him merging and all so it didn't matter to Shuro, but it still annoyed him a bit sometimes.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~

Two days later at the jounin exam, all of the participants in the exam had been set to meet at training ground 44 at 9 in the morning. Nanashi and Shuro showed up at about ten minutes before nine.

Nanashi looked at the familiar training ground, the tall metal fence and gates that surrounded a large forest. _'Forest of Death, again? Please not another scroll hunt'_ thought Nanashi, _'well may as well look around and pretend to show some curiosity in the other participants.'_

Nanashi noticed that the villages weren't interacting with each other, not even Suna and Konoha, but rather stayed in their own groups talking quietly amongst themselves. Nanashi looked around until he spotted the Konoha group and slowly made his way closer to them, with Shuro following, hoping to hear some interesting details about what happened while he was away.

As he got closer he was able to make out who was taking the exam, he recognized everyone except two persons. Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kiba, Tenten and Lee were the ones he recognized, the others he couldn't even tell which clans they were from and he surely didn't know them.

Sasuke looked much the same except a bit taller. His hairstyle was the exact same. He wore the standard chunin outfit, olive green vest over a navy shirt with the Uchiha fan on the sleeves, navy ninja pants and standard blue sandals. _'he hasn't changed much' _Nanashi thought.

Ino had tight black shorts and dark purple shirt and her chunin vest over. She had grown out her hair again and it was in the same style as it was five years ago.

Shikamaru, he looked exactly the same except he was taller. _'My god… is he so lazy that he doesn't bother to change his appearance over five years?' _he thought and made a mental grimace.

Hinata actually wore the traditional Hyuuga clothes, and had grown her hair out and it was now a bit below her shoulder blades. Also she didn't have that same shyness about her. _'Seems like the shy girl grew out of her shell'._

Kiba wore long black pants with his old gray jacket, Nanashi couldn't tell if he wore a shirt under the jacket or not. _'He looks grown up, but does he act like it?' _Next to Kiba was Akamaru that now stood as tall as Kiba's waist, his white fur had taken on a more gray-ish color.

Tenten and Shino seemed to not change at all except in height and clots. _'What is it with this village and lack of change?'._

Lee had become an exact copy of Gai, not that he didn't expect it. _'I wonder if he has a rivalry with Sasuke? I almost feel sorry for him'_

Nanashi, when he was close enough, decided to keep his distance and instead activated his advanced hearing, to try and listen to their conversation.

He apparently came in during a casual talk "Hey Lee, how are you feeling about going into this place again?" asked Kiba.

"I'm a little nervous about the whole exam, but this place still gives me the creeps," answered Lee. "Well I think we are going to kick ass! With all the training we had, we will certainly pass!" said Kiba in a cocky tone.

_'Same old showoff' _thought Nanashi with a smile on his face.

"How are you doing Hinata?" asked Kiba. "Fine, I'm pretty confident" said Hinata in a calm voice, then added a bit softer "I have to do this… for Neji… and Naruto-kun". "Yes and wasn't it Naruto who got Neji to stop being so stuck up in the first place" Kiba said "Yes, thanks to Naruto-kun…" the last part was whispered. "Do you think he'll come back?" asked Kiba suddenly a bit somber. "Yes, I have to believe, we all have to believe" was her answer.

Nanashi listened carefully _"they actually missed me… wow. Damn it, now I feel horrible' _he continued those thoughts and grew a little gloomy, Shuro could probably see a little purplish black shadow looming over him. Though Akamaru's barking, made Nanashi re-focus his attention on Kiba. Nanashi noticed that Akamaru seemed to be looking at him and Shuro.

Kiba noticed his dog acted weird all of a sudden "What is it boy? What do you smell?" Kiba asked as he bent down to Akamaru's level and soon looked towards the Doku nin.

Nanashi instantly started talking to Shuro about the forest of death and told him where to go and different locations to avoid, his little espionage session over.

"What, you smell something familiar, a fox? The Doku-nin's are suspicious?" Kiba repeated what Akamaru said.

Nanashi panicked a little'_damn it, I've always had my sent blended with a foxes because of Kyuu, after the merging it became worse too_… _Gotta be careful not summon a fox here, I'll use some of the other species.' _Nanashi thought. He'd have to be careful here, with everything he did, or risk being found out before it was time. Kiba could be a problem if he recognized his smell and found out who he was.

Just then the examiner for the test appeared in a wind of leaves on top of the 'booth'. He was dressed in regular jounin clothes with his forehead protector on his head, except it was tilted down to cover his left eye and he had a mask covering the lower part if his face.

Nanashi looked a bit wide eyed at that _'Out of all the possibilities it had to be HIM. Seems I'm gonna have no luck here,' _Nanashi had a look of amusement on his face at the sight of his former teacher. _'Oh how I hope to go up against my old teammate and rival. I wonder how good Sasuke is with the sharingan'_. he was broken from his thoughts as the examiner began to speak.

The silver heard man looked lazily over the crowd and began "Welcome, everybody, to the jounin exam, my name is Hatake Kakashi." He began "As you may know there are rarely an opportunity like this, jounin exams are rare, so do your best". It was true there aren't many of these exams. "Now for the first part of the exam, you will each get a scroll, and all of them are different" explained Kakashi.

_'Oh god, not again' _thought a bored Nanashi.

"For the next five days you will be living in there," said Kakashi pointing behind him, "The Forest of Death." Some of the chunins cringed slightly at the name, but most didn't seem to care. "Now try not to lose your scroll, since the scrolls contain questions and you have to find the answer to alt least two of them to pass" that got most of the chunin confused, they were supposed to answer questions… was it some kind of written test to this? Kakashi continued "The answers will be delivered at the tower in the middle of the forest after five days or earlier. If not then you're out of the exam" he ended.

Nanashi came to a conclusion about the test _'So each person has to fight at least one other person. Easy enough. The hard part might be the answers. Were probably gonna have to _find_ those answers like any jounin would be able too, that's the main reason they made the test like this' _Nanashi thought, glad it wasn't like the chunin exam where you just needed the scrolls.

Someone came up and began to talk, it was apparently an ANBU "You will not be allowed to leave the forest for the next five days. ANBU will be posted right outside to make sure of that, anyone who leaves will instantly be disqualified and arrested" explained The White masked person before Kakashi took over again "any questions?". No one said anything and Kakashi told everyone that the exam would begin in one hour.

As Nanashi went to the stand to take his scroll, he overheard the conversation between Kakashi and Kurenai.

Kurenai walked up to Kakashi when he was done talking "I'm surprised you were on time" said Kurenai. Kakashi put his hand on the back of his head and made an eye smile, "Well… you see Lady Hokage threatened some horrible things if I were late…" he said sheepishly. Kurenai just looked at him suspiciously and asked "Really? Like what?". "She said she would personally come to my house and burn all the 'Icha Icha Paradise' books I owned" answered Kakashi taking a step back.

Kurenai's eyebrow twitched a couple of times before she finally socked him in the face, then just turned around and walked away from him mumbling something about perverts.

_'And some things never change.' _Nanashi though with a grin.

~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~


End file.
